Transmission apparatus, AIT transmission method and reception apparatus

ABSTRACT

Disclosed herein is a transmission apparatus, including: an application data transmission section adapted to transmit data of an application for HbbTV; and an AIT transmission section adapted to transmit an AIT including an application profile which represents one or more additional functions to the application and is configured from a first bit region of high-order n bits and a second bit region of lower-order (16−n) bits which represent presence or absence of functions allocated to bit positions thereof with a bitmap structure and wherein, in the first bit region, values for changing over the functions to be allocated to the bit positions in the second bit region are set.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.14/309,556 filed Jun. 19, 2014, which claims the priority from U.S.application Ser. No. 13/591,448 filed Aug. 22, 2012, which claims thepriority to Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/528,466, filed on Aug.29, 2011. The entire contents of each of the forgoing applications isincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

The present technology relates to a transmission apparatus, an AITtransmission method and a reception apparatus adopted by the HbbTVsystem.

The HbbTV (Hybrid broadcast broadband TV) originates from integration ofspecifications of the Interactive TV drafted in Germany and France. TheHbbTV is based on Web technologies or existing standards, and as aresult, re-utilization of a server environment or an applicationdevelopment environment is facilitated. In order to implement moreabundant viewing experience of the TV, the HbbTV structures a compositeenvironment of broadcasting of a TV receiver and a broadband (IP(Internet Protocol) network). The HbbTV does not depend on atransmission layer such as a ground wave, a satellite, a cable or thelike. Thus, in Germany, the service is started in December, 2009 and, inFrance, it is scheduled to start the service within 2011.

In Europe, a descriptor called AIT (Application Information Table) formanagement of an interactive application is prescribed. An ES(Engineering Service) by which an AIT is transmitted by data codingidentification disposed in a PMT (Program Map Table) which is one pieceof PSI (Program Specific Information) of the MPEG-2 (Moving PictureExperts Group phase 2) system is designated and another ES by which theAIT is transmitted by data coding identification transmitted with anindependent ES is designated, and transmission is carried out by theindependent ES. While the AIT has a field in which a profile(application profile) of a function or the like added to an interactiveapplication can be described, operation of the application profile isentrusted to individual services.

A platform profile is a field in which information regarding a functionwhich an application has is described. As the function which anapplication has, download, recording, download and reproduction at thesame time by a RTSP (Real Time Streaming Protocol), content protectionby DRM (Digital Rights Management), adaptive streaming and so forth ofan A/V (Audio/Visual) content are available. Various functions areavailable other than the functions just described, and it is expectedthat the number of functions increases in the future.

SUMMARY

The number of bits given to the field for a platform profile is 16 inthe standard. Generally, a bitmap structure in which one function isallocated to each of the bit positions of the 16 bits is adopted for theplatform profile. By adopting the bitmap structure, 16 functions in themaximum can be represented in one platform profile. However, the numberof kinds of additional functions to an application is inclined toincrease in the future. Accordingly, it is expected that, in thestructure of the platform profile in which 16 bits at present are usedas a bitmap, a situation occurs that the representation capacity becomesinsufficient.

Taking such a situation as described above into consideration, it is anobject of the present technology to provide a transmission apparatus, anAIT transmission method and a reception apparatus by which enhancementof the representation capacity of a platform profile for describing anadditional function to an application in the HbbTV can be achieved.

According to an embodiment of the present technology, a transmissionapparatus includes an application data transmission section adapted totransmit data of an application for HbbTV, and an AIT transmissionsection adapted to transmit an AIT including an application profilewhich represents one or more additional functions to the application andis configured from a first bit region of high-order n bits and a secondbit region of lower-order (16-n) bits which represent presence orabsence of functions allocated to bit positions thereof with a bitmapstructure and wherein, in the first bit region, values for changing overthe functions to be allocated to the bit positions in the second bitregion are set.

n may be one of values within a range from 2 to 14, preferably one ofvalues within a range from 2 to 5.

Where all additional functions to the application cannot be representedby one application profile, the AIT transmission section may transmit aplurality of AITs including a plurality of application profiles in whichvalues in the first bit regions are different from each other.

The transmission apparatus may further include a content transmissionsection adapted to transmit data of a content.

According to another embodiment of the present technology, an AITtransmission method includes transmitting an AIT including anapplication profile which represents one or more additional functions tothe application for HbbTV and is configured from a first bit region ofhigher-order n bits and a second bit region of lower-order (16-n) bitswhich represent presence or absence of functions allocated to bitpositions with a bitmap structure and wherein, in the first bit region,values for changing over the functions to be allocated to the bitpositions in the second bit region are set.

According to a further embodiment of the present technology, a receptionapparatus includes a reception section adapted to receive applicationdata and an AIT transmitted from a transmission apparatus including anapplication data transmission section adapted to transmit data of anapplication for HbbTV, and an AIT transmission section adapted totransmit an AIT including an application profile which represents one ormore additional functions to the application and is configured from afirst bit region of high-order n bits and a second bit region oflower-order (16-n) bits which represent presence or absence of functionsallocated to bit positions thereof with a bitmap structure and wherein,in the first bit region, values for changing over the functions to beallocated to the bit positions in the second bit region are set, and adecision section adapted to analyze the application profile included inthe received AIT to decide the additional function of the receivedapplication.

The decision section may decide the additional function to the sameapplication analyzed from a plurality of platform profiles in the pluralAITs received at intervals by ORing.

As described above, with the present technology, enhancement of therepresentation capacity of a platform profile for describing anadditional function to an application in the HbbTV can be achieved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a view showing a configuration of an HbbTV system according toan embodiment of the present technology;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a transmissionapparatus ready for the HbbTV system of the embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a receptionapparatus ready for the HbbTV system of the embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a view showing a configuration of an AIT; and

FIG. 5 is a view showing a structure of an application profile in theAIT of FIG. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In the following, an embodiment according to the present technology isdescribed with reference to the drawings.

[HbbTV System]

FIG. 1 is a view showing a configuration of an HbbTV system according tothe embodiment of the present technology.

The HbbTV system 100 includes a broadcast and application provider 10, areception apparatus 20 and a transmission system such as the Internet40, broadcasting 30 and so forth. The broadcast and application provider10 includes a broadcasting station 10A for broadcasting a linear ANcontent and interactive application data. Further, the broadcast andapplication provider 10 includes a server apparatus for delivering anon-linear A/V content and application data to the reception apparatus20 through the Internet. A server 10B delivers the non-linear A/Vcontent and the application data in response to a request from thereception apparatus 20 through the Internet.

The linear A/V content and the non-linear A/V content are a transportstream of the MPEG-2/Video or the like. An application includes, forexample, a GUI (Graphical User Interface) which rouses the user so thata non-linear AN content is downloaded and reproduced and receives areproduction instruction from the user, a URL (Uniform Resource Locator)of the non-linear AN content and so forth. In the HbbTV, theMPEG-2/Video or the like is adopted as a data format for an A/V contentand the CE (Consumer Electronics)—HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) orthe like is adopted as a data format for a document.

The broadcasting station included in the broadcast and applicationprovider 10 produces an AIT and broadcasts a broadcasting AIT. Theserver 10B can produce an XML-AIT (Extensible Markup Language-AIT)having the substance equivalent to that of the broadcasting AIT anddelivers the produced XML-AIT in response to a request from thereception apparatus 20.

[Configuration of the Transmission Apparatus]

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a transmissionapparatus ready for the HbbTV system of the embodiment. The transmissionapparatus particularly is the broadcasting station 10A and the server10B included in the broadcast and application provider 10.

The transmission apparatus includes an arithmetic operation processingsection 11 and a storage section 12. The arithmetic operation processingsection 11 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a main memory and aROM (Read Only Memory). The storage section 12 is, for example, alarge-capacity storage apparatus such as a hard disk drive.

The arithmetic operation processing section 11 includes, as a functionalmodule configured by the CPU executing an arithmetic operation processbased on a program stored in the main memory, a content transmissionsection 101 for transmitting a non-linear A/V content or a linear A/Vcontent, an application data transmission section 103 for transmittingapplication data for the HbbTV and an AIT transmission section 105 fortransmitting an AIT including an application profile. The storagesection 12 stores the A/V content, application data and AIT transmittedthereto from the content transmission section 101, application datatransmission section 103 and AIT transmission section 105.

The AIT transmission section 105 is configured from a first bit regionof higher-order n bits and a second bit region of lower-order (16-n)bits of a bitmap structure and transmits an AIT including an applicationprofile of 16 bits for specifying an additional function to theapplication through the broadcasting 30 or the Internet 40.

[Configuration of the Reception Apparatus]

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the receptionapparatus 20 ready for the HbbTV system of the embodiment.

The reception apparatus 20 is an electronic equipment capable ofreceiving an A/V content and application data provided from thebroadcast and application provider 10 through the transmission systemsof the broadcasting 30 and the Internet 40 and carrying out a processsuch as reproduction and so forth. More particularly, the receptionapparatus 20 is a television set, a personal computer, a portabletelephone set or the like.

The reception apparatus 20 includes a broadcast reception section 21(reception section), a network connection section 22 (receptionsection), a demultiplexer 23, an arithmetic operation processing section24, an operation inputting section 26, a display section 27 and aspeaker section 28.

The broadcast reception section 21 receives an AN content, applicationdata and a broadcast AIT broadcasted as a transport stream from thebroadcast and application provider 10. The network connection section 22can process the connection to the Internet 40 to access the server 10Bof the broadcast and application provider 10 to receive an AN content,application data and an XML-AIT.

The demultiplexer 23 separates a video, an audio, an AIT and so forthfrom the transport stream received by the broadcasting reception section21 and the network connection section 22.

The arithmetic operation processing section 24 includes a CPU (CentralProcessing Unit), a main memory and a ROM (Read Only Memory). In themain memory or the ROM, a browser 241, a media player 242 and anapplication manager 243 (decision section) are stored as software. Thebrowser 241 carries out a displaying process of the application data.The media player 242 carries out a reproduction process of an A/Vcontent. The application manager 243 analyzes an AIT to control start-upand stopping of the application. The application manager 243 analyzesthe substance of a platform profile in the AIT to decide an additionalfunction to the application.

The operation inputting section 26 receives an inputting operation fromthe user to issue a notification to the arithmetic operation processingsection 24. The operation inputting section 26 may be configured from akey operation section provided on the main body of the receptionapparatus 20, a remote controller or the like.

The display section 27 displays a document or an image processed by thebrowser 241 and a video of the A/V content reproduced by the mediaplayer 242. The speaker section 28 outputs, for example, an audio of theA/V content reproduced by the media player 242.

[AIT]

Now, the AIT is described.

The AIT is control information relating to the lifecycle of anapplication. As control information relating to the lifecycle of anapplication, for example, “AUTOSTART,” “PRESENT,” “DESTROY” and so forthare available. “AUTOSTART” is information for the instruction to startthe application immediately. “PRESENT” is information for theinstruction to receive the application by the reception apparatus 20although it is not automatically executed. “DESTROY” is information forthe instruction to stop the application. A hybrid terminal can acquireand start up an application designated, for example, so as to be startedimmediately based on control information relating to the lifecycle inthe AIT.

As illustrated in FIG. 4, the AIT has a field for a platform profile.The platform profile is a field in which information relating tofunctions which the application has is described. The functions whichthe application has are, for example, download, recording, download andsimultaneous reproduction by the RTSP (Real Time Streaming Protocol),content protection by DRM (Digital Rights Management), adaptivestreaming and so forth of an AN content. Various other functions areavailable, and it is expected that functions increase in future.

The bit number given to the field for a platform profile is 16 bitsaccording the standard. Generally, one function is allocated to theposition of each of bits in an array of 16 bits. For example, functionsare allocated in the following manner.

-   “0000 0000 0000 0000” no function-   “0000 0000 0000 0001” download-   “0000 0000 0000 0010” recording-   “0000 0000 0000 0100” RTSP-   “0000 0000 0000 1000” DRM-   “0000 0000 0001 0000” adaptive streaming-   “1000 0000 0000 0000”

Accordingly, in a general AIT, only up to 16 functions can berepresented.

It is to be noted that, in order to represent that two functions ofdownload and recording are available, the bits at the bit positionsindividually allocated to them may be set to “1” like

-   “0000 0000 0000 0011”

In the HbbTV system of the present embodiment, the totaling 16 bits ofan application profile are handled separately for a first bit region ofhigher-order n bits, and a second bit region of lower-order (16-n) bitswhich represent presence or absence of a function allocated to each bitposition in a bitmap structure. In the first bit region, values forchanging over functions allocated to the individual bit positions of thesecond bit region are set. In particular, as illustrated in FIG. 5,although one function is allocated to each bit position in the secondbit region similarly as in an ordinary case, the types of the functionsrely upon the values in the first bit region.

For example, in the case of N=3, although

-   “0000 0000 0000 0001”    represents download,-   “0010 0000 0000 0001”    represents a different function, and all of-   “0100 0000 0000 0001”-   “0110 0000 0000 0001”-   “1000 0000 0000 0001”-   “1010 0000 0000 0001”-   “1100 0000 0000 0001”-   “1110 0000 0000 0001”    represent different functions from one another.

If it is assumed that n is n=3, then the second bit region includes 13bits. Accordingly, 13 functions can be represented for one dimension.Meanwhile, since totaling eight dimensions can be represented by thefirst bit region of 3 bits, 13×8=104 functions can be represented by thefield for an application profile of 16 bits.

Incidentally, according to the method described above, if n is set ton=4, then 176 functions can be represented, and if n is set to n=5, then320 functions can be represented. In particular, as the number of bitsto be utilized as the first bit region increases, the number offunctions which can be represented increases. In this sense, n can beset to a value ranging from 2 to 14.

However, if the number of bits to be utilized as the first bit region isincreased to decrease the second bit region, then the maximum number offunctions which can be represented by one application profile decreases,and in order to convey all functions, the values of the first bit regionare changed to transmit many application profiles. Accordingly, thenumber of bits to be utilized as the first bit region should be selectedoptimally in response to the total number of kinds of availablefunctions within the range from 2 to 5. The reason is that, even if thetotal number of functions which can be represented is increased to 640or more by setting the bit number of the first bit region to 6 or more,it seems less likely to occur that the number of kinds of functionsincreases to such number in future and the demerit caused by decrease ofthe number of functions which can be represented by one applicationprofile is significant.

In the transmission apparatus of the broadcast and application provider10, the AIT transmission section 105 transmits an AIT including anapplication profile structured in such a manner as described above tothe reception apparatus 20 through the broadcasting 30 or the Internet40.

In the reception apparatus 20, a video, an audio, an AIT and so forthare separated from a transport stream received by the broadcastreception section 21 and the network connection section 22 by thedemultiplexer 23. The separated AIT is analyzed by the applicationmanager 243. In the analysis of the AIT, the application manager 243analyzes the AIT in accordance with the structure of the platformprofile in the AIT to decide an additional function to the application.

The application manager 243 decides the additional function analyzedfrom a plurality of platform profiles received at intervals for the sameapplication by ORing. Consequently, when the transmission apparatuscannot represent all functions using one platform profile because of thenumber of such functions, it can distribute the functions to a pluralityof platform profiles and transmit the functions to the receptionapparatus 20.

In this manner, even with a platform profile restricted to a field of 16bits, the number of functions which can be represented can be increasedgreatly by using the higher-order n bits as information for making theallocation of the functions allocated to bit positions of second bitregion of lower-order (16-n) bits plural dimension.

It is to be noted that the present technology can adopt suchconfigurations as described below.

(1) A transmission apparatus, including:

-   an application data transmission section adapted to transmit data of    an application for HbbTV; and-   an AIT transmission section adapted to transmit an AIT including an    application profile which represents one or more additional    functions to the application and is configured from a first bit    region of high-order n bits and a second bit region of lower-order    (16-n) bits which represent presence or absence of functions    allocated to bit positions thereof with a bitmap structure and    wherein, in the first bit region, values for changing over the    functions to be allocated to the bit positions in the second bit    region are set.

(2) The transmission apparatus according to (1), wherein the n is one ofvalues within a range from 2 to 14.

(3) The transmission apparatus according to (1), wherein the n is one ofvalues within a range from 2 to 5.

(4) The transmission apparatus according to any one of (1) to (3),wherein, where all additional functions to the application cannot berepresented by one application profile, the AIT transmission sectiontransmits a plurality of AITs including a plurality of applicationprofiles in which values in the first bit regions are different fromeach other.

(5) The transmission apparatus according to any one of (1) to (4),further including a content transmission section adapted to transmitdata of a content.

(6) A reception apparatus, including:

-   a reception section adapted to receive application data and an AIT    transmitted from a transmission apparatus including an application    data transmission section adapted to transmit data of an application    for HbbTV, and an AIT transmission section adapted to transmit an    AIT including an application profile which represents one or more    additional functions to the application and is configured from a    first bit region of high-order n bits and a second bit region of    lower-order (16-n) bits which represent presence or absence of    functions allocated to bit positions thereof with a bitmap structure    and wherein, in the first bit region, values for changing over the    functions to be allocated to the bit positions in the second bit    region are set; and-   a decision section adapted to analyze the application profile    included in the received AIT to decide the additional function of    the received application.

(7) The reception apparatus according to (6), wherein n is one of valueswithin a range from 2 to 14.

(8) The reception apparatus according to (6), wherein n is one of valueswithin a range from 2 to 5.

(9) The reception apparatus according to any one of (6) to (8), whereinthe decision section decides the additional function to the sameapplication analyzed from a plurality of platform profiles in the pluralAITs received at intervals by ORing.

It should be understood by those skilled in the art that variousmodifications, combinations, sub-combinations and alterations may occurdepending on design requirements and other factor in so far as they arewithin the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof.

What is claimed is:
 1. A transmission apparatus, comprising: applicationdata transmission circuitry that transmits to a reception deviceapplication data of an application, based on a request; and tabletransmission circuitry that transmits to the reception device a firstapplication profile of a plurality of application profiles, based on therequest, wherein the first application profile includes information of aplurality of function types of the application, the first applicationprofile comprises a high-order bit region corresponding to a pluralityof high-order bits of the first application profile and a low-order bitregion corresponding to a plurality of low-order bits of the firstapplication profile, a first function type of the plurality of functiontypes of the application is set based on a correspondence of a firstvalue of the high-order bit region with a first bit position of aplurality of bit positions in the low-order bit region; a total numberof the plurality of function types in the first application profile is amultiplication product of a number of the plurality of high-order bitsand a number of the plurality of low-order bits, the number of theplurality of high-order bits is equal to n and the number of theplurality of low-order bits is equal to 16−n, and n is a value in arange of 2-14.
 2. The transmission apparatus according to claim 1,wherein the table transmission circuitry further transmits the pluralityof application profiles, each application profile of the plurality ofapplication profiles indicates one of the plurality of function types ofthe application, the first value of the high-order bit region isdifferent from a second value of the high-order bit region, and thesecond value, that corresponds to a second bit position of the pluralityof bit positions in the low-order bit region, indicates a secondfunction type of the plurality of function types of the application. 3.The transmission apparatus according to claim 2, wherein: the firstvalue of the high-order bit region, that corresponds to the first bitposition in the low-order bit region, indicates the first function typeof the application, and the first function type is different from thesecond function type.
 4. The transmission apparatus according to claim1, further comprising content transmission circuitry that transmitsaudio/video (A/V) content of the application.
 5. A transmission method,comprising: transmitting application data to a reception device based ona request, wherein the application data is associated with anapplication; and transmitting a first application profile of a pluralityof application profiles to the reception device, based on the request,wherein the first application profile includes information of aplurality of function types of the application, the first applicationprofile comprises a high-order bit region corresponding to a pluralityof high-order bits of the first application profile and a low-order bitregion corresponding to a plurality of low-order bits of the firstapplication profile, a first function type of the plurality of functiontypes of the application is set based on a correspondence of a firstvalue of the high-order bit region with a first bit position of aplurality of bit positions in the low-order bit region, a total numberof the plurality of function types in the first application profile is amultiplication product of a number of the plurality of high-order bitsand a number of the plurality of low-order bits, the number of theplurality of high-order bits is equal to n and the number of theplurality of low-order bits is equal to 16−n, and n is a value in arange of 2-14.
 6. The transmission method according to claim 5, furthercomprising transmitting the plurality of application profiles to thereception device, wherein each application profile of the plurality ofapplication profiles indicates one of the plurality of function types ofthe application, the first value of the high-order bit region isdifferent from a second value of the high-order bit region, and thesecond value, that corresponds to a second bit position of the pluralityof bit positions in the low-order bit region, indicates a secondfunction type of the plurality of function types of the application. 7.The transmission method according to claim 6, wherein: the first valueof the high-order bit region that corresponds to the first bit positionin the low-order bit region, indicates the first function type of theapplication, and the first function type is different from the secondfunction type.
 8. A reception apparatus, comprising: reception circuitryto: receive application data of an application; and receive a firstapplication profile of a plurality of application profiles, wherein thefirst application profile includes information of a plurality offunction types of the application, the first application profilecomprises a high-order bit region corresponding to a plurality ofhigh-order bits of the first application profile and a low-order bitregion corresponding to a plurality of low-order bits of the firstapplication profile, a first function type of the plurality of functiontypes of the application is set based on a correspondence of a firstvalue of the high-order bit region with a first bit position of aplurality of bit positions in the low-order bit region; a total numberof the plurality of function types in the first application profile is amultiplication product of a number of the plurality of high-order bitsand a number of the plurality of low-order bits, the number of theplurality of high-order bits is equal to n and the number of theplurality of low-order bits is equal to 16-n, and n is a value in arange of 2-14; and decision circuitry that determines the first functiontype based on the first application profile.
 9. The reception apparatusaccording to claim 8, wherein the decision circuitry further determinesthe plurality of function types of the application based on one of theplurality of application profiles.
 10. The reception apparatus accordingto claim 8, wherein the first value of the high-order bit region, for asame bit position of the plurality of bit positions in the low-order bitregion, indicates the first function type of the application, a secondvalue of the high-order bit region, that corresponds to the same bitposition of the plurality of bit positions in the low-order bit region,indicates a second function type of the plurality of function types ofthe application, and the first function type is different from thesecond function type.